Enabling full control of LED's

human · Feb 15, 2017

Just as an "FYI", I've enhanced the ardupilot-solo v1.5.3 firmware to expose all the features of Solo's motor pod LED controllers (aka OreoLED) over mavlink. With this firmware loaded on the pixhawk, each LED can be fully controlled, including setting any RGB value (color) and "blink" pattern (strobe, sine, etc.).

A command line utility, installer, and firmware are available here:
GitHub - hugheaves/solo-led-control: Command line utilities to control 3DR Solo LEDs

DISCLAIMER: Obviously, this is a customized version of software that controls the flight functions of the 3DR Solo. If you choose to use this firmware, in all likelihood, this will cause your drone to crash, causing horrendous loss of life and billions of dollars in property damage. You have been warned.

Here's a quick picture showing Yellow, Green, Blue, and Red.

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 16, 2017

Does this create parameters that can be changed to do something with the lights? Or does this require an external application to do it?

human · Feb 16, 2017

Pedals2Paddles said:
Does this create parameters that can be changed to do something with the lights? Or does this require an external application to do it?

Right now, it requires an external app (or at least running a script on your solo / controller). I was thinking more in terms of dynamic LED colors based on flight conditions (battery level, etc)

However, just setting a static color would be useful too. I hadn't thought of using parameters to do it, but that's a great idea. I'll see what I can come up with.

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 16, 2017

Is it something you can execute manually by typing mavlink commands into Mission Planner? Or something like that? I've never done or tried anything of the sort, never needed to, but I think the capability is there.

carpy · Feb 16, 2017

Maybe the easiest way to is to execute a script using Solex.

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 16, 2017

That would be much easier and more flexible than dragging my laptop with me and using MP every time.

human · Feb 23, 2017

Well, this took longer than I thought. I tried but failed to get LED colors settable via parameters. I spent quite a bit of time researching, reading doc, and writing code, and no matter what I tried the parameter values seemed to get corrupted upon restart. I'm still not sure why, as my parameter code seems identical to what's already there. I suspect I'm hitting some sort of edge case, or buffer oveflow.

Anyway, I've gone ahead and created a command line utility that can be run from Solex (or using an SSH connection to Solo). The settings don't persist between reboots (because no parameters are used), but it's easy to run the script by clicking a button in Solex.

I've written some instructions on installation and usage here:

GitHub - hugheaves/solo-led-control: Examples of controlling 3DR Solo LED's using Python DroneKit

Feedback and suggestions for improvements are welcome.

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 23, 2017

I love this stuff! Here's a quick review I did this evening. I should probably be asleep. But instead I'm tinkering with LEDs and eating thin mints.

mrreddog · Feb 25, 2017

I really just want a reverse of stock lighting, red upfront and white in rear.........any way to make it stay that way as as default?

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 25, 2017

I doesn't stick between reboots. As of today, the best you can do is make a command button in Solex to easily set it every time.

human · Feb 25, 2017

It may be possible to have the script run when the solo boots up. I'll see if I can figure out how to do that.

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 25, 2017

That would be awesome.

fpvsteve · Feb 25, 2017

I installed the firmware and the 2 python scripts as described in the git. When I try to run the led_control.py or SoloLED.py script in the WinSSH terminal, I always get a syntax error.
What am I doing wrong?

carpy · Feb 25, 2017

fpvsteve said:
I installed the firmware and the 2 python scripts as described in the git. When I try to run the led_control.py or SoloLED.py script in the WinSSH terminal, I always get a syntax error.
What am I doing wrong?

What's the error Steve?

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 25, 2017

Someone on FB got the same thing. The file is corrupt. Redownload the py files from github, and reupload them to the solo. It worked immediately after that for him.

fpvsteve · Feb 25, 2017

carpy said:
What's the error Steve?

here is what I get. I downloaded and reinstalled several times. No success.

Pedals2Paddles · Feb 25, 2017

Hmm. You're sure you used his newest version of AC on the pixhawk?

carpy · Feb 25, 2017

fpvsteve said:
here is what I get. I downloaded and reinstalled several times. No success.
View attachment 5474

When you are downloading the file, you are getting the html page and not the actual source file.

From his repo, use the 'Clone or download' green button and choose Download ZIP and save the file.

fpvsteve · Feb 25, 2017

carpy said:
When you are downloading the file, you are getting the html page and not the actual source file.

From his repo, use the 'Clone or download' green button and choose Download ZIP and save the file.

Thank you - that resolved it!!

human · Feb 25, 2017

It looks like the Solo follows a fairly standard Linux boot process, so I've uploaded a couple of files and instructions on how to setup boot time / persistent defaults here:

GitHub - hugheaves/solo-led-control: Command line utilities to control 3DR Solo LEDs